Analysis of building energy regulation and certification in Europe: Their role, limitations and differences

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Abstract

In this paper we analyse the general conditions for the building energy regulation and certification schemes to be effective in controlling and limiting the energy consumption in the building sector. Embodied energy calculations and live cycle analysis are pointed out as key elements in building energy assessment, although are still consistently left out of regulation and certification proposals. The relevance of appropriate indicators for building energy regulation and certification schemes is discussed, presenting the main conditions they should fulfil. As a practical example illustrating the general considerations, we present an analysis of the building energy legislation at EU level, pointing out some limitations that seriously compromise its capability to be finally translated in effective national legislation, able to significantly reduce the energy consumption in the building sector. This is further illustrated with the Spanish case, where the recent proposals for regulatory and certification schemes present serious limitations because of not taking into account some basic considerations. A rational approach for establishing the allowed limits in building energy consumption, the ones that should form the basis of regulatory mechanisms, is outlined.

Introduction

The starting point situation is clear and the pursued objectives also: in order to have an acceptable probability of not overshooting a 2 K global warming, and keep therefore the effects of climate change within acceptable limits, the atmosphere CO2-equivalent concentrations should be stabilized around 400 ppm [1]. With nowadays concentrations above 380 ppm, this environmental constraint leads to the requirement to reduce to almost zero the fossil fuel CO2 emissions by 2050 [2]. The technological, economical, social and political challenge to reach this objective is already enormous. We have delayed too long to assume the responsibility for the required change, leading us to a situation where there are serious doubts that even implementing urgent measures we will be able to stabilize atmospheric CO2 concentrations below 550–750 ppm. Any further delay will leave as legacy for the next generation a situation exponentially more difficult to overcome.

Recently (January 2005), under the umbrella of the 2003/87/CE Directive the EU has established a scheme for greenhouse gas trading within the Community. The emission trading scheme (ETS) covers about a third of total greenhouse gas emissions, and each Member State prepared a national allocation plan (NAP), where they decided how many allowances to allocate in total for the period 2005–2007 and how many each plant covered by the ETS will receive. The ETS covers more than 12,000 installations (combustion, mineral oil refining, coke ovens, iron and steel plants, cement, glass, lime, brick, ceramics, pulp and paper) in the UE-25. However, the dominant sectors for the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions within the EU, building and transport, are not covered by the ETS. Urgent and effective measures for these two sectors are needed if we want to keep any chance to overcome the climate change environmental challenge. The building sector, because of both its energy demand and the long useful life of buildings (in the order of twice the time limit we have to reduce to almost zero the CO2 emissions), is the most critical amongst these two disperse sectors.

“The residential and tertiary sector, the major part of which are buildings, accounts for more than 40% of the final energy consumption in the (European) Community and is expanding, a trend which is bound to increase its energy consumption and hence its carbon dioxide emissions”.

Statements of this kind are found in the EU Directive 93/76/CEE [3], the EU Directive 2002/91/CE [4] and the EU Green Paper [5], and give a clear view of the need and priority that the EU has for reducing the energy consumption in the building sector, both for advancing in the compliance of international agreements (Kyoto protocol and forthcoming compromises), as well as for reducing its energy dependency, and hence for leading its development path towards sustainability.

In other developed countries the situation is similar. In less developed countries and in countries where the building energy requirements to reach comfort conditions in the cooling season are significant, the building operational energy requirements have still not been completely internalized, but as they do, they will develop towards similar levels as in developed countries. Building operational energy requirements for cooling purposes do have the additional burden associated to their high spatial and temporal concentration. In countries like Spain, this is already producing technical problems in the electricity transport and distribution network, as well as increases in the market electricity price, in spite of their still small internalization of this energy item.

Therefore, there is a need to introduce specific instruments and measures to harness the impact of this very important energy sector. However, the building sector presents several peculiarities that render it more complicated than others, introducing important requirements on the proposed instruments and measures in order to become effective. Indeed, to start with, a building, and specially those aimed to reduce their energy consumption through a more passive interaction with the surrounding environment, is an energy system far more complicated than other engineering energy systems. Besides, the building sector is very disperse, and has a very poor tradition in energy analysis. Often, it is rather complicated to integrate a team of architects and engineers working together on the multidisciplinary aspects of building design.

Taking all of this in account, it is not strange that some of the proposed instruments to harness the building sector energy demand present important shortcomings that compromise their capability to reach the required objectives. Often, these shortcomings could be avoided with an object based planning, a more precise specification, and by paying more attention to the peculiarities of the sector and to past experiences. Since nowadays these instruments are being developed or in procedures to be approved in several countries, and because of the long life time of buildings, it is convenient to have a more in deep analysis that could help laying down the appropriate structures to control energy consumption in the building sector. This analysis is also relevant for other countries that in the near future will have to introduce mechanisms to control the energy consumption of their buildings, as well as for countries that already have implemented them but can benefit from a critical view to improve them.

In this paper we present such an analysis laying down some important concepts to help structuring energy control mechanisms for the building sector in a more rational and object oriented way. We begin by discussing general requirements for those instruments aimed to limit and control the energy consumption of the building sector. Thereafter, as a recent practical example, we will examine under this perspective the initiatives undertaken at the EU level along the last years, pointing out some of its shortcomings, and the implications they may have for the effective implementation of the pretended energy control mechanisms into the State Members. As a specific case, we will analyse the recent proposals for building energy regulation and certification in Spain, developed under the umbrella of the EU Directives, and that will in short be approved. The regulation and certification proposals for Spain are a clear example of instruments with a very limited or null capability to effectively control the energy consumption in the building sector, because they do not include some basic considerations about the requirements of these schemes in order to be effective. We also discuss with some practical examples the relevance of live cycle analysis for energy control schemes aimed at the building sector, pointing out the need and viability to incorporate it in those schemes. Finally we propose a rational and object oriented approach to establish the limits of allowed building energy consumption in the regulation and certification schemes.

Section snippets

Instruments for building energy assessment

Building energy assessment, extended to its design, construction, and useful life, allows for a proper quantification of the building's energy implications, and hence provides the basis for appropriate planning in the sector. Given the high relative weight of the sector in the country's energy balance, the very limited penetration of energy assessment tools in it and its high inertia to incorporate changes, there is a clear need to develop normative and mechanisms that structure the application

The relevance of live cycle analysis

The objective of building energy assessment should be to valuate the overall energy impact of the building. This requires a life cycle analysis (LCA) approach in order to properly assess all the building energy implications. A common shortcoming of virtually all the building energy regulation schemes and most of the building certification schemes is that they limit their energy assessment to the building operational energy requirements, leaving aside the embodied energy (EE) accumulated in the

The need for appropriate indicators

One of the key points for the success of building energy regulation and certification schemes, in terms of the fulfilment of their objectives, is the main indicator they implement. The indicator these schemes are developed around should be chosen taking into account the targeted objectives. However, it is very common to find regulation or certification schemes based on indicators that do not take into account these considerations and that therefore have a limited effective scope.

Based on the

The EU Directives and their limitations

As a practical example, we will now proceed to examine the building energy legislation at EU level in the light of the above stated general considerations, pointing out some of its shortcomings.

Already in 1993, the Directive 93/76/CEE [3] clearly pointed to the building sector for its high relevance in the energy consumption and CO2 emissions within the EU, urging to adopt measures to increase the energy efficiency in this sector. Building energy certification schemes where already proposed as

The case of the Spanish regulation proposal

With the aim to illustrate how wrong can go a building energy regulation scheme if it is not properly object oriented, and if the above mentioned considerations are not taken into account, we are going to present the results of an analysis about the recent Spanish proposal to modify the building energy regulation under the umbrella of the Directive 2002/91/CE. The results from this analysis may be useful to many other countries in the process to modify their building energy regulation schemes

Limitations of the Spanish certification proposal

The building certification scheme proposed for Spain (CALENER) under the umbrella of the Directive 2002/91/CE, presents structural limitations that condition its possibilities to do any positive contribution to the improvement of building energy performance. The CALENER certification scheme has a non compulsory character and is limited to the buildings project phase (no follow up of building implementation and life time, and existing buildings not included). The CALENER certification scheme is

Proposal of rational criteria to establish energy consumption limits

Rational criteria to establish the regulated limit on allowed energy consumption from the buildings (kW h m−2 year−1) should be adopted. This criteria should be coherent with the pursued objectives (sustainability), the acquired compromises (Kyoto protocol), and the actions undertaken in other sectors. For this purpose a national allocation plan (NAP) should be prepared involving all the sectors. This NAP should be coherent with the first steps in emissions reduction following the Kyoto protocol,

Conclusions

In this paper we have analysed the general conditions for the building energy regulation and certification schemes to be effective in controlling and limiting the energy consumption of the building sector.

As a practical example, we have presented an analysis of the building energy legislation at EU level, pointing out the limitations that may compromise its capability to be finally translated in effective national legislation, able to reduce the energy consumption in the building sector. This

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